Prex Infans Sancti Hanabi
by celciusvariant
Summary: Hanabi Hotaru is a 9th grader in Mitakihara Middle School who harbors a secret crush on Madoka. Due to some circumstances, he finds himself bound to a magical item known as a Break Band as he becomes involved in with the world of Puella Magi and Witches.


_A/N: Hello dear readers, how do you do? This is celsiusvariant with a story for the year 2011, and what better way to kick things off with a fanfiction of one of the best deconstruction anime of the Winter 2011? Yes, this is a rewrite of the original series that has quite a few twists to it, the main story will be more or less the same, but with different outcomes and side stories._

_Here are the disclaimers, I don't own Puella Magi Madoka Magica or the Morning Rescue juice, which will be prominently featured on this fan fiction, the anime is produced by SHAFT studios and Aniplex, directed by Akiyuki Shinbo and written by Gen Urobuchi. Any content from the anime or concepts from other media used as references do not belong to me and at the credit goes to the respective authors._

_It is highly recommended to have watched all the episodes of Puella Magi (Mahou Shoujo): Madoka Magic(k?)a to understand the plot attached to this fanfiction. Well, enough disclaimers and ranting just sit back and enjoy the show._

The 1st Epitaph: He who carries the prayer of Hope

_If happiness does not exist in this world, then create it with your own hands…_

Hanabi Hotaru was a 15 year old 3rd year student at Mitakihara Middle School; he was a very good student with outstanding academic grades but had poor athletic abilities like your average bookworm genius and even wore black framed glasses to top it off. He would never have thought he would be involved in such situation, stuck in a strange area that was similar to some crazy, deranged abstract painting of a Hollywood night scene that looked like some deformed city inhabited by many 'things' that looked like giant pocket mirrors and cosmetic cases with arms and legs sporting large razor-sharp teeth and wielding projectors with the manner of a mace skipping around on what looked like red carpets with strange runes written on them in purple energy.

At the center of the area was what was the best described as a demonic mannequin with a persona mask in guise of a face, various distorted human faces plastered to its 'skin'. Sitting on what appeared to be a sort of twisted long chair. Hanabi faced the monstrosity, his hands shaking as the black bracelet adorned with a pink gem embedded on the onyx black metal band clattered on his wrist before he tightened his fist and gathered his resolve to face the nightmarish entity with the least fear possible before removing his glasses.

"Break Band…activate…"

When he muttered these words, the bracelet emitted a black fume like substance as a black flame ignited from the accessory and expanded to cover his entire body. Then, with a single motion of his hand, Hanabi dispelled the flames that were surrounding him, revealing that the school uniform he once wore was gone, replaced by a black leather coat underneath a white shirt, black pants and boots with matching black gloves covering his hands.

His natural jet black hair didn't change, but his originally hazel brown eyes were now red and glowed ominously as his previously nervous persona was replaced by a more playful and confident personality who didn't fear the minions or the Witch at all. He casually looked at the bracelet he was wearing under the sleeve of his black coat, which turned into a watch as he took a quick glance at the time.

"7 minutes…7 minutes is all I can spare to play with you…"

As though alerted by the transformation, the minions sprung into action and surround Hanabi as he playfully taunted the Witch into fighting him. Reaching for the inner pocket of his coat, he pulled out a cylindrical object out of it, instead of a weapon for fighting; it was a bottle of Morning Rescue, a brand of juice. He twisted the cap open as one of the minions rushed at him, to which Hanabi replied with a powerful reverse roundhouse kick before taking a sip of his juice. The minion was blown away and caught on fire as it was consumed by a black flame.

"Poor performance indeed…"

Shaking his head while berating his fallen enemy and taking another sip of Morning Rescue, a group of five minions rushed at Hanabi from different directions in an attempt to perform a surprise attack.

Time then seemed to slow down as he screwed the cap of his bottle and threw it in the air before he rushed towards the closest minion and giving it a powerful straight across the face before moving to his other targets in order to deliver a powerful uppercut, a flying knee, a shoulder ram and a side kick at such speeds that it appeared he teleported towards his targets before returning to his original position. Catching the bottle of Morning Rescue, he unscrewed the cap and took a sip of Morning Rescue as the five minions were consumed by black flames in rapid succession, just like a black colored fireworks show.

"What's the matter? I expected more of a challenge from you!"

After a short, uneventful battle, Hanabi defeated all the minions the Witch had sent towards him without breaking a sweat and was the only one standing. Finishing his bottle of Morning Rescue and throwing the bottle away, Hanabi then closed his eyes as faint pink circuits appeared on his black coat before he reopened them, revealing his eyes had now shifted yellow.

"Let us end this, shall we?"

His persona had once again changed, this time he was polite and well-mannered, but nonetheless determined to defeat the Witch. His vision had also changed, having become a sort of high-output analyzer that scanned his opponent for any specific details and weak spots. The name of Hexen-Einmaleins was displayed for the witch as the minions's names were revealed to be Nichtig and Schon.

"Allow me to end your suffering…"

The Witch summoned mirrors as she entered one of them and her reflection was now projected on every mirror. It was impossible to tell which one was the original one in normal situations; however, Hanabi was very calm as black flames surrounded his left hand, advancing towards one of the mirrors confidently.

As though reacting to his choice, one of the mirrors containing a fake reflection shattered as the shards rushed at Hanabi, who avoided them without effort as he continued to slowly walk towards mirror that hiding the real Witch as it broke more and more mirrors, sending a storm of glass shards in attempt to repel him but he dodged every shard, vanishing from sight momentarily every time he dodged until got near the mirror hiding the Witch as the persona mask morphed into a demonic mask before it sent the face plastered her body in an attempt to drag him into the mirror and turn the tide of the battle in her favor.

"Trucido Terminus…"

Dodging the faces, Hanabi then plunged his left hand into the Witch's chest through the mirror as it cracked and shattered as the Witch began expanding like a weird balloon.

"Peracto…"

With the final word, Hexen-Einmaleins expanded and exploded as a pillar of black flames rose to the artificial ceiling of the bizarre world, causing it to burn and fall to the ground, revealing a more normal background that looked like an abandoned cosmetics factory. The darkness of the factory hid Hanabi's form, but his bright yellow eyes glowed through the obscurity like those of a cat…Madoka woke up suddenly, who wouldn't after witnessing such a strange dream? However, she felt extremely strange today; she was unable to explain it, but for some reason something deep inside her told her that something was going to happen and it wasn't a happy event from what she could feel.

"A-A dream…it was all a dream…"

Getting out of bed and going down, that feeling of unease only accentuated as she realized something that horrified her. She wasn't sure how, but everything felt so…predictable, from her movements to the disposition of the items in the house along with her actions and the reactions they triggered, it seemed like nothing surprised her...like she had a preconscious knowledge of what was going to happen in the near future despite not having any memories associated with those instincts.

Madoka reflected about what was going on as she stood in front of the mirror of the bathroom, looking at her reflection and holding her toothbrush but not intending to use it, which worried her mother who noticed that her daughter was more distracted than usual.

"Madoka…are you okay? You look pale…"

"H-Huh? Y-Yeah, sorry about that mom, I just had a bad dream…"

Snapping out of her daze, Madoka decided to play along with her instincts to not raise any suspicion or everyone would think she was insane or something. Meanwhile, Hanabi Hotaru had just woken up as well, grooming himself and starting to change from his black pajamas to the Mitakihara Middle School uniform consisting of a beige shirt and pants with black outlines and rolled up sleeves with a purple inner layer and tied up the black leather shoes that completed the uniform.

"What I did yesterday…was it the right thing?"

His mind flashed back to yesterday after class, he had activated the Break Band and bumped on Madoka on purpose. The impact caused a few light pink energy circuits to appear on her pink red irises, which glowed for a moment before vanishing but Madoka didn't seem to have been affected in any way back then and simply went her way like nothing had happened.

Returning to the present, his focus was now on the onyx-black band that was attached to his wrist, sporting a bright pink gem that seemed completely out of place compared to the dark colors of the bracelet.

"C-Come to think, w-what is a Break Band?"

Returning further in the past to about a week ago, Hanabi was wandering outside at night when he noticed that something strange, a sort of purple vortex that opened in the night sky above.

"W-What is that…?"

Barely an instant after noticing the vortex did something shot out of it and rushed towards him like a flaming comet. Unable to react, he simply placed his hands in front of his face, waiting for the object to rip through his lungs or heart…instead he felt something hot on his left wrist to see the black band firmly tightened on it and seemed irremovable by normal human methods.

"W-Wha…? What is…Gah!"

Hanabi's mind was flooded with information without any warning as he fell on his knees, images of alternate timelines and various situations of the past as well as informative text flashed through his head and burned onto his memory in a single instant. The pain he felt back then was unbearable; he briefly believed that he was going to die and that was only the beginning…

"Right…I'm…an Eliminator…a destroyer of Witches and Magical Girls…"

Madoka was already on her way to school while Hanabi reminisced on the events that turned him into a supernatural being. Her two friends, Sayaka Miki and Hitomi Shizuki, had noticed that Madoka was a lot more distracted than usual and were worried about her.

"Hey Madoka, are you okay?"

"H-Huh? O-Oh, I'm sorry Sayaka-chan…I just had a bad dream last night…"

"You look really pale today Madoka-san; you should go see the nurse…"

"N-No, I-I'm fine…don't worry about it Hitomi…"

It was a stressful situation for Madoka, not only did every event of the day play out like her instinctual insight dictated, but her family and friends were clearly noticing the signs that her confusion towards the situation was affecting on both the psychological and physical level and it only added more stress in an already unbearable situation for an average 14 years old girl.

"Okay, we have a transfer student today, please come in Akemi…"

The class was a bit awkward in regard to their teacher, Kazuo Saotome, who made a lecture on eggs and dating just a while ago. However, the class immediately forgot about the otherwise humorous lecture as soon as the transfer student came in.

Despite not knowing her consciously, Madoka's chest was filled with a warm feeling of familiarity that made her get up from her seat instinctively.

"H-Homura-chan? Eep!"

Those words unconsciously slipped from her lips without her control as she clasped her hands over her mouth a moment too late. Everyone was now looking at Madoka with a look of surprise and confusion, even Homura looked surprised, unable to believe that she could say her name at this point of time.

Seeing that Madoka was on the verge of tears from all the looks directed at her, Homura steeled herself and picked the marker and began writing her name on the black board loudly enough to snap everyone out of staring at Madoka.

"My name is Homura Akemi; it's a pleasure to meet you all…"

First silence, then a student clapped, followed by the rest of the class, it appeared that she successfully managed to divert the attention from Madoka, for the time being…

"Which school did you go before Akemi-san?"

"I went to a Christian School in Tokyo…"

"Did you go to a club before? Sports? Literature?"

"I wasn't in any…"

"Come on tell us, what's your relation with Kaname-san?"

Unlike the other questions the students asked her, Homura was visibly affected by that last question as she looked at Madoka who seemed lost and confused. Something was wrong, Madoka shouldn't be able to remember her existence, let alone associate a name with it, she had to investigate or that pesky feeling of unease would become a nuisance.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't feel so well, could someone guide me to the nurse's office?"

"I-I'll do it! I-I'm the Health Representative of the class!"

Silence followed as the two walked across the hallways of the school under the whispers of the students from other classes, neither seemed ready to start talking despite the fact that Madoka would usually try to start a conversation at this point of time.

Homura abruptly stopped in the suspended windowed hallway that connected two areas of the school and turned around to face Madoka who also stopped, feeling that Homura was going to speak.

"Kaname Madoka, what would you say if I came from another time?"

"E-Eh? W-What do you mean Homura-chan?"

Like a normal person who was told that someone came from another time, she felt confused and would think it was a joke on the conscious level. However, she quickly noticed that she didn't feel any confusion or denial of her statement deep down and was terrified by it.

Homura on the other hand noticed that she looked like she didn't understand what she was saying, relieving her from her initial fears that she retrieved her memories from the past timelines through some strange method.

"Forget I said anything, it was stupid of me to say that…"

"I-I don't know…"

"D-Did you say something Madoka?"

"My mind…won't believe what you say…but my heart is screaming to me that you're telling the truth!"

With all her might, Madoka finally said it…Homura could only stand there in shock from her statement as the former was now a trembling and crying mess who was barely holding back her tears.

"I-I'm sorry! Excuse me!"

"M-Madoka...what is going on here?"

Homura tried to call to Madoka as she ran away but without success. She reflected on what was going on, such a situation was unprecedented in all her time travelling as she decided to walk in the opposite direction from Madoka, not noticing that Hanabi was spying on the conversation in his Neutralizer form his glowing red eyes filled with annoyance and disdain over the activity deemed useless.

"What a weakling, to think he'd rely on me to simply eavesdrop on a pair of girls…how did I lose to this guy in the first place?"

With a dark grumble to himself, Neutralizer Hanabi jumped off the roof of the suspended hallway where he was eavesdropping on the conversation. With a graceful and slow motion, Homura lifted the black marker she was holding and began writing complicated formulas at incredible speeds, much to the awe to the rest of the class along with the teacher who just didn't know what to say.

During P.E classes, Homura jumped over a suspended bar and landed gracefully on the mattress while many female students squealed in admiration.

"D-Did she just break the prefectural record?"

The P.E teacher couldn't believe her eyes, she had to be some sort of superhuman being; every student thought that Homura was cool and beautiful at the same time. At the same time, a weasel-like being known to some as Kyubey was observing the scene from a potted plant not too far. It had fur that was white as snow and its red eyes gave the impression they could pierce through the soul.

Elsewhere, Hanabi was looking at Madoka from the window of his class in the main school building, but averted his look once Madoka looked in his general direction, feeling that someone or something was looking at her from afar.

"Madoka! Hey Madoka!"

"…eh? Sorry Sayaka-chan, I was lost in thought…"

Looking at her cola distractedly, she barely heard Sayaka calling for her. Something was wrong, very wrong, and it scared her, how could she foresee all those events? From waking up of a dream to the outing to the shopping mall she was having with Sayaka and Hitomi, everything went as she predicted so far, the motives may have been different, but it all amounted the same events regardless of variables.

"You've been acting rather strange today Madoka-san, what's the matter?"

"Ah! I get it! Akemi-san must be a forgotten childhood friend of Madoka!"

Sayaka got up, apparently having formulated a conceivable theory to explain the situation. To her, it made perfect sense, including her strange behavior towards Homura. Both Madoka and Hitomi were confused by her brief explanation and unable to follow her train of thought.

"S-Sayaka-chan?"

"S-Sayaka-san? W-What do you mean by that?"

"Just think about it for a second! She must have had a dream about Akemi-san yesterday! They must have been friends a long time ago and Madoka doesn't remember her, yet she felt nostalgic. Of course she couldn't say a thing because feeling nostalgic towards someone you don't remember is creepy but it still affected her, that's why she reacted like that when Akemi-san entered the class! How's that?"

"T-That's unexpectedly detailed coming from you Sayaka…oh my! Look at the time, I'm terribly sorry but I have to be going."

"So Hitomi, do you have piano courses this time? Or Japanese dance lessons?"

"I'm learning how to make tea, we'll soon have an exam and I don't know how long I'll be able to study there either…"

"Well…I guess we'll be going as well…"

"Hey Madoka, can we stop at the CD store before we go?"

"Sure, it's for Kamijo–kun right?"

Madoka was beginning to feel a bit nauseous, even the tea courses and CD store part matched with her unconscious instinct's predictions. She was beginning to wonder how far her instincts would predict in the future as she listened to a sample CD at the nearby store, fearing that she would be subject to another strange reaction from those frighteningly accurate instincts.

"H-Huh?"

"Help…Help Madoka!"

A voice resounded in Madoka's head, one that sounded cutesy to her conscious mind, but that absolutely reviled her instinctively as she shuddered as though a grotesque alien from space had talked to her and asked for her soul.

For a reason she couldn't understand, she felt compelled to follow the voice to its source and hunt down whomever the voice belonged to and crush him/her under her heel till it died. Sayaka noticed her leave the CD shop and followed her out of curiosity. Hanabi, who was was drinking a new bottle of Morning Rescue while stalking the two girls, saw them leave the shop hastily and finished his Morning Rescue in a single gulp before following the pair from afar, a serious expression on his usually shy and meek attitude.

"Where are you? Who are you?"

"Help me…"

Without noticing it, Madoka's voice was dangerously sweet, as though she was trying to lure the owner of the voice towards her before killing it brutally. The plate of the air conditioning vent above her came loose, Madoka instinctively backed away as it fell to the ground along with Kyubey, who was badly beaten up and wounded by someone or something.

"W-Were you the one who called me?"

"Help me…"

Madoka tried to approach Kyubey, but she found that she was unable to touch it as her body was sending signals that likened it to a tarantula or some gross insect a normal girl wouldn't even consider touching and could only keep her distance from it.

"Stay away from him…"

A pile of chains fell from above as a familiar voice called to Madoka. It surprised her a little, but she otherwise predicted this turn of events as well. Looking up, she saw Homura wearing what looked like a black sailor fuku with a white blouse, a gray skirt with white frills and long black boots.

"H-Homura-chan?"

"This doesn't involve you Madoka! Stay where you are…"

Homura pulled a M9 pistol from behind her skirt and pointed it at Kyubey's beaten form. It was an event that was new to her, her conscious mind couldn't take it anymore; she had to prevent Homura at all cost especially since she was armed and ready to kill this time.

"H-Hold on! Y-You can't do this to him! He's injured and he called me for help!"

"Is that so…"

Calm and collected about her decision, she sternly looked at Madoka and Kyubey, which intimidated the former into backing away a little. Without hesitation, Homura used her time stopping powers as she fired her M9 15 bullet clip at Kyubey since Madoka wasn't in the way.

"Break Band…activate…"

With those words, time appeared to slow down as Hanabi appeared in between Kyubey in his Neutralizer form and caught the eight first bullets between his fingers and threw seven of them to clash with the rest before either Homura or Madoka actually noticed he was there.

"? What? What's going on?"

"Who are you?"

Homura glared at Hanabi as she asked the question while Madoka was panicking. He was now wearing sunglasses to hide his identity from Madoka, but the currently smug disposition he displayed matched the moments where Hanabi's eyes glowed red and used a taunting and confident tone.

Homura and Hanabi were now staring at each other, waiting for one of them to do a move like a Mexican standoff while Madoka could only stand and watch with both nervousness and confusion in her expression as she managed to gather her courage to hold Kyubey in her arms despite the disgusted feeling in her heart.

"Just who is…"

Madoka muttered those words as she suddenly remembered the scene Hanabi bumped into her as her eyes widened in shock but was unable to utter a word from the shock of the realization…

1st Epitaph...Complete.

_A/N: So, how did you enjoy the first act? I'm sorry if it was confusing to assign characters to dialogue lines, it's my first time using this format for conversations. If you enjoyed the chapter, you are invited to leave a review on how to improve my writing, if I should discard irrelevant details or focus on certain things. Ah yes, for the title, I wanted the title to be a latin translation of Prayer Child Holy Hanabi, if I made a grammar mistake, you're more than welcome to correct me. As you might have noticed, I based Hanabi's Neutralizer form and personality on Resident Evil 5 Wesker, so expect many quotes from Resident Evil 5, especially from Wesker when Hanabi goes Neutralizer Mode. Oh and about the new witch, she will probably be the only one I will introduce. If anyone gets the Faust reference, Hexen-Einmaleins is the spell that a witch uses to brew a potion for Faust so he becomes a bishonen and sees the reflection of Helen of Troy in a magic mirror, hence the mirror attack._

_Here's Hexen-Einmaleins Witch Card:_

HEXEN-EINMALEINS

Type: Mirror Beauty witch

Nature: Vanity

The witch in a vain quest for ultimate beauty. Her appearance is more important to her than anything else and she will do anything to acheive it. Her perception of beauty is however bound to fashion and modernity, so she changes her appearance quite often with the help of her mirrors.

_Here's her Minion's cards:_

NITCHIG

Type: Mirror Beauty Witch minion

The minion of the Mirror Beauty Witch, it's duty is to reflect the inner darkness of those who gaze upon it.

SCHON

Type: Mirror Beauty Witch minion

The minion of the Mirror Beauty Witch, it's duty is to make the world more beautiful, whatever it conceives as 'beautiful.

_As a bonus for you reader, here's a Resident Evil skit I came up with while writing this chapter._

Me: It seems I have underestimated you canon...

Canon: Save it author! There's no one left to help you now!

Me: I don't need anyone else...I have...Imagination! In less than 5 minutes, we'll reach the optimal altitude for Ret Con deployment...Urobuchi will be deployed into the atmosphere, ensuring Complete...Global...Rectification...*sigh*

_Yes, I just made a pun using Gen Urobuchi's name since I noticed it was similar to Uroboros, well that's all for this chapter, so with these words of parting, let us go our separate ways until we meet again in the next chapter._


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